There's no such thing as negative publicity

LISLE -- The Benet faithful didn't like it.

The it, meaning the bulletin board material yours truly and two other Sun staff members created by picking St. Joseph over Benet in Friday's East Suburban Catholic Conference opener.

I admit it, I bought into the hype of St. Joe's first two wins since 2002 and picked them to go 3-0 by beating Benet at Benedictine University. Having no rooting interest in the game, I also admit that I really wanted to see history - St. Joe's first ESCC win since re-entering the league in 2003.

Benet didn't like it though, not one bit. But it worked.

"You know what I like about that? That's locker room, that's wall fodder. These guys are talking about that tonight," Benet coach Gary Goforth said. "I said, 'You never believe what you read in the paper anyway,' but that's OK."

That's not the first time one of The Naperville Sun's schools has used its hometown newspaper to light its fire. And without too much fail, the teams who pull out victory seem somewhat grateful for the motivation afterward. (Hey, we do what we can).

Well before meeting Goforth on the field after Benet's 35-0 win, I got looks from the Benet faithful in the press box. Looks? Let's call them spirited glares and pointed fingers and what also seemed to be well thought-out opinions about The Sun's picks against their team. But that's no longer the point.

The Redwings (1-2) responded to adversity. The coaches, the players - their fans. They all supported one another. On Monday, with the hype of St. Joe's already in full force and Benet still winless, Redwings coach Pat New Sr. began turning the tide.

New asked all of the players who were committed to stand up, and all of them did.

"What I told them was, there's a price to be paid for success," New recalled. "So we said one, do you wanna win and No. 2, are you willing to pay the price to win? And if you pay the price during the week, you'll know when it comes game day, you'll feel it in your heart that you're ready to win - that you paid the price."

New said that Tuesday's and Wednesday's practices were great. They focused on one repetition at a time, concentrating on the idea of winning games during the week and not just during the game.

The Redwings effort materialized quickly against St. Joe's. They led 21-0 by halftime, allowing only 75 yards of total offense at the time. Meanwhile, the Redwings had 72 yards rushing and quarterback Jimmy Riley entered the break with 185 yards on 12 of 16 passing.

Riley, who moved so well in and out of the pocket, finished the game 14-of-20 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed seven times for 52 yards. Riley said the difference was the offensive line's play, running back Mike Wuest's fearless play, the receivers' ability to adjust to the weather and - the motivation not to become history.

"We definitely didn't want to be one of the first teams that St. Joe's had beat in, like, I don't even know how many years in the ESCC," Riley said. "And we definitely proved that today."

Contact Brad Engel at bengel@scn1.com or 630-416-5289.